326 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



opening led into the cave proper. We procured a torch of dry 

 bamboo and entered forthwith. This cave, which it seems is called 

 Gua Belah, or the Double Cave, is about sixty feet wide, a hundred 

 and fifty feet long, to whei'e it terminates in a narrow cleft in the 

 rock, and about forty feet high at the highest point. The ground 

 plan of the cavern is therefore an isosceles triangle. The walls 

 were smooth, of a light-gray color, and without stalactites. The 

 floor was covered to an unknown depth with a layer of loose and 

 dry bat guano, which gave off the odor we had noticed half a mile 

 away. 



The cave was full of bats [Eonycteris spilla) which left their 

 resting places on the walls as we entered, and flew round and round 

 above us in a I'oaring swarm, at times coming within a foot of our 

 faces. Our footsteps fell noiselessly on the soft and spongy bed of 

 guano, and had we been pro\'ided with sticks we could have easily 

 knocked many bats from the walls. There must have been two 

 thousand of them there. In the outer cavern we easily shot a num- 

 ber of specimens as they clung to the rocks high above us. 



Not far from that cave was another in the same mountain, 

 which we visited on the following day. The mouth was simply a 

 hole in the base of the rocky wall, leading straight into a low, but 

 very extensive, cavern, which must have been an acre and a half in 

 extent. The low roof reminded me of a mine, and the numerous 

 galleries and narrow passages leading off on either side rather 

 heightened the resemblance. In the light of our torches the roof 

 was yellowish-white and very clean looking, generally smooth, and 

 without stalactites. The floor also was bare rock. 



We found the mouth of the cave entirely stopped with branches 

 — excepting one opening about a foot square — and were informed 

 that, after thus blocking the mouth, the Jacoons send two or three 

 men inside to scare the bats out so they can be knocked down by 

 the sticks of those who stand outside at the opening. We tried 

 the same dodge in order to get a few more perfect specimens, and 

 easily secured five by tliis knock-down process. The scheme is so 

 easy to work, however, and so successful that the Jacoons have al- 

 most entirely depopulated the cave of its winged inhabitants. 



After leaving this cave, which is called " Gua Lada," or Chilli 

 Cave, we were conducted through a mile of very wet jungle to a 

 third cave, called " Gua Lambong," which is really a very fine cav- 

 ern. At the mouth there is a perfect little vestibule scooped out 

 of the sohd rock by the hand of nature for the express accommoda- 



